Nadhira Shabha Ansyari 1905112591

6B

Academic Reading And Writing

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEM THAT LEARNERS FACED IN LEARNING

Introduction
Speaking ability is one of the 4 skills that must be mastered by students. Among the other 4
skills, speaking skill is a skill that is often found to be the biggest fear and challenge for some
students in learning English. Because to be able to speak good English, is not enough to have
good communication skills. But students also have to master a lot of vocabulary, how to know
the correct pronunciation, grammar, and other things. Besides, in mastering speaking, students
are required to be brave and confident in speaking English. This is what is often found in the
field, students do not dare to come to the front of the class or speak English because they do not
have self-confidence and are also afraid to start first. These are the so-called psychological
problems found in speaking English.

Psychological speaking issues are difficulties caused by psychological reasons that impede
students from exercising their English speaking skills in class. Anxiety, fear of making mistakes,
a lack of self-confidence, a lack of desire, and shyness are some of the psychological issues
associated with speaking. Teachers and students can benefit from understanding the speaking
issues that students confront. Teachers can learn more about what obstacles are preventing their
pupils from speaking in class by evaluating it, and then try to evaluate and fix problems with
them. All of these issues are inextricably linked to students' speaking abilities, and they may
make them hesitant to speak in class.

Research question
1. What are the most psychological problems faced by the students in learning Speaking? 
2. What are the causes of the psychological problems faced by the students?
Review Of Literature
Language has been defined by Hornby (2000: 752) in his Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary
as a system of communication in speech and writing that is used by people of a particular
country or area. It is a system for the expression of thoughts, feelings, etc., by the use of spoken
words or conventional symbols. According to Sapir, language is a purely human and non-
instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions, and desires through a system of
voluntarily produced sounds. The definition of Sapir expresses that language is mainly
concerned with only human beings and constitutes a system of sounds produced by them for
communication.

There are millions of languages in the world, but one of the most important languages and is
used as an international language is English. Learning English is important and people all over
the world decide to study it as a second language. Many countries include English as a second
language in their school syllabus and children start learning English at a young age (2615: 8140 )
Therefore students are required to be able to master English well. 

In learning English, four skills must be mastered by students, namely reading, listening,
speaking, and writing. In this study, the author will focus on speaking skills. Some experts have
purposed the definition of speaking. According to Boyd (2004) that speaking is an activity in our
information from the speaker to the listener. According to Brown (1994:1), speaking is processed
to collect the data of information and in accepting, producing, and processes the data to be valid
information and ready to deliver as good communication. Speaking is very important for EFL
learners. Through speaking, students can share ideas, feelings, thoughts, and opinions, to provide
information and messages to others. 

Speaking is a production skill that is included in two main categories: accuracy and fluency.
Accuracy consists of using vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation through some activities
(Gower et al., 1995). According to Shakur (1987;5), there are five components of speaking
comprehension, grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and fluency. 

However, Speaking skill is considered one of the most challenging things for students learning
English. Because students must master 5 components of speaking comprehension, it is found
difficult to student to master all those things at the same time. Beuno, Madri, and Mclarner
(2006) in Leong and Masoumeh (2017: 35) explained that many learners state that they have
spent so many years studying the English language but cannot speak appropriately and
understandably.  

Heriansyah (2012: 40) says that the difficulties faced or felt by the students in speaking can be
divided into two kinds of problems namely linguistic and non-linguistic problems. The linguistic
factor is often appearing in speaking problems more than the non-linguistic factor but non-
linguistic factors have a big influence as well. In response to this, Taiqin (1995) as cited in
Heriansyah (2012: 38), ninety percent of students got a speaking difficulty that is caused by a
psychological factor (non-linguistic factor). Psychological speaking problems are speaking
problems caused by psychological factors. Psychological problems are problems that often
involve emotional or physical health (Jannah and Wuli, 2016: 68).

Some of the psychological problems of speaking are anxiety, fear of mistakes, lack of self-
confidence, lack of motivation, and shyness. Burns and Joyce in Nunan (1999; Schwartz, 2005;
Thornbury, 2005; Juhana, 2012: 100) argued that psychological factors such as anxiety or
shyness, lack of confidence, lack of motivation, and fear of mistakes are common that hinder
students from speaking. These psychological factors do not only come from the mind, but also
from behavior, emotions, and other factors. Therefore this greatly affects the ability of students
to speak good English, especially in front of the class.

A study conducted by Nascente (2001), is one of the main factors that may mostly affect the
language learning process and consider this a variabe affective. Secondly, even though students
are not inhibited, they complain that they cannot think of anything to say: they have no motive to
express themselves beyond the guilty feeling that they should be speaking. However, it is
difficult for some students to respond when they are asked to talk about a topic in English that
they are hesitant to explain or still doubt using diction and appropriate grammar (Baker &
Westrup, 2003).

Many also found that students lack motivation in learning English, especially speaking. Nunan
(1999) stated that motivation is a significant factor that may affect students'‟ reluctance to speak
in English, and also it is a key consideration in determining the preparedness of learners to speak.
Because students are afraid to learn speaking first and have very low self-esteem, this makes
students lack motivation.

Threesje R. Souisa and Christisel Gaite. (2017). Found new insights into their finding such as
varied teaching strategies in speaking skills, giving more opportunities to practice their English
inside and outside the classroom, always motivating them and encouraging them to practice their
English, and giving challenging assignments for them. It can help students minimize their
problems and psychological factors in speaking skills. This can help students overcome
psychological problems that arise, and can also improve students' ability to speak English.
 References

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ON ORANGE TECHNOLOGIES (IJOT)

Nascente, R. (2001). Students' anxiety in the classroom.

NUNAN, D. (1999) Second Language Teaching & Learning. Boston: Heinle & Heinle publishers. ISBN

Duncan Sidwell, (2006). Encouraging talk in the classroom, Retrieved from

Threesje R. Souisa & Christisel Gaite. (2020). Study On Speaking Problems And Psychological Factors
Encountered By Students In Developing Their Speaking Skill. Pattimura University, Indonesia. MATAI
International Journal of Language Education Volume 1, Number 1. Pp. 9-21.

Leong, L. & Ahmadi, S.M.(2017). An Analysis of Factors Influencing Learners’ English

Munir, Muhammad Misbakhul. Psychological Factors that Hinder Students in Speaking Skill in
the Classrooom (A Case Study of the Seventh Grade Students of SMP N 2 Banyubiru in the
Academic Year 2017/2018). Thesis. Salatiga: State Institute for Islamic Studies (IAIN) Salatiga.
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Win Listyaningrum. Psychological Problems and Challenge In EFL Speaking Classroom . Arifin Gadjah
Mada University win.listyaningrum.a@mail.ugm.ac.id DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18326/rgt.v10i1.29-47